The ants program stands for audubon naturalists in the schools ants provides year long, field trip based programming to elementary school students in billings and the surrounding area in the 2019 2020…

The ants program stands for audubon naturalists in the schools ants provides year long, field trip based programming to elementary school students in billings and the surrounding area in the 2019 2020 school year, audubon worked with more than 80 individual ants classrooms in billings and the surrounding area grade specific and standards aligned, ants is an interdisciplinary science and indian education for all program, combining content and pedagogical approach in a way that is responsive to land and culture most of the ants classrooms are 3RD, 4TH, or 5TH grade the program has been featured at several professional conferences in montana and the region as a model of connecting classrooms with nature these classrooms participate in a full program the full program includes 4 1 hour in class visits and 3 full day field trips classrooms have field trips in the fall, winter, and spring so that students can see all the changes in the natural landscape and ecological processes approximately 29 schools will participate in this program, and through the agreement with the BLM the audubon hopes to serve 375 students from 6 of the 29 schools all in class visits last one hour and are conducted by audubon center teacher naturalists class visits are intended to prepare students for field trips and provide additional educational content that is aligned with the mission of the program field trips occur at the audubon center and at sundance lodge, four dances, and pompeys pillar during the field trips, students spend most of their time outside, immersed in the flora and fauna of the audubon center and BLM sites they are given time for personal exploration and independent journaling, allowing them to connect with nature at a personal level students learn about native plants and their traditional uses, playing native games, searching for birds and mammal tracks, observing adaptations of various local animals, birding, assisting in restoration efforts at the center, canoeing on one of our ponds, and journaling about season changes along the yellowstone river the 6 schools going to BLM sites get some of the same learning opportunities as well as others sundance recreational area gives students the opportunity to study water quality via the river and collecting macroinvertebrates schools go to pompey s pillar where rangers take them on historic tours of pompey s pillar national monument and teach them about the relevant history of the corps of discovery and indigenous peoples the program is a partner with principals, classroom teachers, the community, BLM and iefa the program curriculum and content are ngss, iefa and environmental education aligned this helps educators reach their science and indian education for all goals our teacher naturalists are trained in all necessary content areas, and work with classroom teachers to educate students and allow them to have unique and important experiences in their surrounding natural areas after observing program outcomes for over a decade, we have consistently noticed that students are more comfortable in and observant of nature by the end of year many want to return and bring their families for various community programs in the years to come students who struggle in a traditional, indoor classroom setting often thrive in our outdoor classroom, where various styles of learning are implemented montana audubon will provide the BLM with the following information at the end of the year an annual report stating how many students participated, the number of programs, where the programs are held and which schools participated this next year, 2022 2023 will be the ants program s 14TH year, and we look forward to many more to come benefiting and teaching students and teachers, as well as continuing our amazing partnerships throughout the community is what we are excited for…